Squeeze Play
by Late2SGA
Summary: The Team is on a mission to investigate a possible energy source, but there's an obstacle, and Sheppard finds himself in an uncomfortable situation... Team fic.


~ Squeeze Play ~

Author's Note: This story may seem familiar to some of you, and there's a reason for that! Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end.

Word Count: 1914

Takes place when Weir is in charge.

Characters: Sheppard, Rodney, Teyla, Ronon and some Beckett.

Disclaimer: 'Stargate Atlantis' and its characters are not mine. I would not have left them under the aegis of those whose interest lay elsewhere.

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

John woke...and realized he couldn't expand his lungs to draw in much-needed oxygen. His hands clawed at something wrapped tightly around his torso; he could barely move. He writhed to and fro, pushed, pulled, pounded...loosened the whatever-it-was crushing the life out of him and drew in a huge gulp of air.

As John took several more loud gasps he assessed his situation. He was lying on a wet, stone surface. He recalled exploring the cave, aiming the P‑90 light at the rock walls, the sense of not being alone ~ _oh, crap ~ _then he'd felt something curl around his leg and he was swept off his feet. He must've hit his head ~ he had a throbbing headache and a lump behind his left ear. He glanced at his watch. _Ten minutes lost. Where's Ronon?_

Before John could consider his situation further, the tightness at his chest moved to his waist and he was..._rolling?_ _Oh, this is not good._ The whatever-it-was was like a huge tentacle coiling around him, rolling him like a log as it withdrew to the side of the cave, taking him with it. _Definitely not good._

_No radio._ His knife, sidearm and P-90 were all inaccessible; he felt as if he had a couple tires encircling his chest and waist. He was being dragged toward a crevice in the wall and _you're not gonna fit, John._ Not in his current condition... "Ronon!"

John pounded with his fist, pinched, twisted, but was unable to free himself from the appendage holding him captive. As he neared the fissure he spread his feet and braced his legs against the cave wall to prevent being pulled in, although he suspected the owner of the tentacle would ultimately force the issue ~ _it's not gonna care what shape you're in when it finally gets you._

Minutes passed while John and the creature held a kind of tug-of-war stand-off ~ nothing moved. John was on a ledge. He looked at the sea below him and the evidence on the walls that told him he needed to be gone before the water was much higher. He could hear the incoming waves as they slapped against stone. _How much time did McKay say 'til high tide?_ "Ronon?"

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

NINETEEN MINUTES EARLIER.

Rodney stood with Teyla atop a cliff overlooking a wide expanse of bright blue water. He was oblivious to nature's beauty, his eyes glued to his datapad, then he leaned outward and looked down to the rocks below. "Sheppard, can you see anything? The energy source is somewhere on your level, maybe seventy meters inland."

It had taken Sheppard and Ronon twenty minutes to reach the rocky shore at the base of the cliff.

"There's a cave. You sure the energy reading is significant enough to warrant a look?" John eyed the dark entrance. His Spidey Sense had jangled when he saw the opening in the cliff wall. He didn't much like unlit, unknown labyrinths, which, as movies went, usually had one entry...and a resident monster.

"What- Are you afraid of the dark? Look, when I say this could be our 'Holy Grail', I'm not exaggerating. The signature is unclear, but definitely Ancient, and it's strong. If this is a ZedPM, it's nowhere near depleted, so, yes, this 'warrants a look'."

"Why would they put a ZPM in what will soon be an underwater cave?" John mused, still eyeing the hole in the wall.

"Hello? Ten-thousand years? This place was most likely high and dry back then," McKay replied.

"Okay," John sighed, "I'm goin' in. Ronon, give me a count of thirty." John climbed down from his perch on a boulder and waded over to the cave entrance. "You know, we're already knee-deep in water here, McKay. Do you have any idea when high tide is, 'cause I'm not in the mood for a swim."

"According to my calculations" ~ John heard tapping ~ "high tide occurs in thirty-five minutes and...fourteen seconds."

"This is gonna be a quick trip, just a look-see," John stated. "If there's something here worth further investigation, we'll come back at _low_ tide." He sloshed into the darkness, where even his P‑90's beam was swallowed by the gloom. "I'm in a small cavern. Looks like it narrows at the far end." He moved down a mild slope over an uneven surface. The water level quickly rose to mid-thigh. "Goin' into a tunnel."

John had the feeling he was being watched and he couldn't shake a sense of foreboding. The tunnel turned a corner, allowing no view of what lay ahead. He heard Ronon call his name. He was about to answer when he sensed a presence. _Oh, crap._

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

An impatient Rodney keyed his radio. "Sheppard, did you find anything? Sheppard?" He tapped his earbud several times. "Helloooo? Sheppard, what's going on...?" He rekeyed his radio for Ronon. No answer. He looked up at Teyla.

"Could the cave's composition interfere with our radios?"

Rodney shook his head. "The energy signature wouldn't register at all or would be distorted. Something's wrong."

Teyla nodded. "I agree. I will make my way to the cave. You run back to the Gate for help!" She didn't wait for a response; it would take her at least fifteen minutes at a fast pace to descend steep switch-backs and rocky terrain to reach the cave entrance.

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

All Ronon heard was a gasp and a thud. "Sheppard!" Ronon pushed through the rising water toward his teammate's reported position ~ the man wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere; the tunnel was narrow enough there was no place to hide. The space was dark, his hand-held light offering little illumination. Looking back to the open cavern, Ronon saw movement. Believing it was Sheppard coming his way, he waited a second too long...

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

EIGHTEEN MINUTES UNTIL HIGH TIDE.

"Ronon?" Ronon had been behind him, had entered the cave. Still breathing tensely, John yelled for Ronon. He was about to call out again when he felt something snaking at his right arm. The tightness at his waist hadn't altered. _Great. There's a second tentacle?_

The newly arrived tentacle made its way up his right sleeve, sliding over skin. John clamped his left hand on his biceps to prevent further access, and the appendage backed out of his sleeve, only to rise and begin investigation of his head ~ through his hair, over his face. _Curiosity? Or am I lunch? _John clamped his eyelids, pinched his nose and clenched his mouth to prevent examination. He couldn't breathe. _Just leave the ears alone._

John's hair was caught and uncomfortably pulled. The texture of the tentacle was abrasive on his face, and then the limb moved over his jaw and down through the collar of his shirt. With growing discomfort John felt his chest being palpated. _Geez! I'm being felt up by a damned octopus! _He detected sucking sounds, felt weird pressure on his skin. And over it all he could hear the incoming tide..._Out of time, John._

John lightly took hold of the tentacle to 'coax' it out of his shirt. His efforts were countered when the first tentacle exerted more pressure at his torso ~ he couldn't breathe. _Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy._ John fought for release with nails and fists.

The encircling tentacle rose a few feet, then John was slammed down onto the ledge, hard enough he saw stars. A second slam, then John was being dragged toward the fissure again. He grabbed at anything he could find to slow his progress and braced his feet against the sides of the crevice. The tentacle rose and thumped him again. _Plan B ~ Hold on 'til the team arrives._

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

SIXTEEN MINUTES UNTIL HIGH TIDE.

Ronon woke near the mouth of the cave with an intense headache. He was half in water, on a boulder, wedged against the cave wall. His side was bruised; he knew the feel of cracked ribs. Dizziness made him stagger. Whatever had struck him and taken Sheppard was very powerful. Ronon set his blaster to 'kill' and moved back into the cave.

He pushed through water that slapped against his neck. Over the sound of the incoming tide he could hear a thumping, grunting, scuffling rhythm of sound. In the open cavern, barely visible in the dim light, he could just perceive Sheppard being raised and then slammed down onto a ledge. The colonel was held by some thick, arm-like coil, and each time Sheppard was dragged to a crack in the wall, the man managed to jut his feet out to prevent being pulled through the hole.

Ronon waited for the next upward movement to take his shot. The tentacle dropped Sheppard and disappeared into the cleft.

"Chewie...'bout time you got here..."

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

NINE MINUTES UNTIL HIGH TIDE.

As Teyla approached the rocky shore she saw nothing but water. Minutes later Ronon emerged from the cliff wall to swim to a large, flat boulder in front of the cave; he was pulling the colonel by his vest. Once settled on the dry surface, Ronon checked for Sheppard's pulse. To reach them Teyla danced over the stone tips that rose above the pulsing water.

Colonel Sheppard looked beaten, battered, even dead. Teyla stopped short. Ronon looked up at her and grinned slightly.

"What is that?" Teyla pointed to a mark on the colonel's neck.

Ronon unzipped the tac vest and pushed up the man's shirt.

Teyla gasped at the red, circular wounds covering their team leader's torso. A loud splashing made her look toward the cliff ~ the entire cave entrance was underwater. And then she heard the hum of the rescue Jumper.

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

Carson Beckett stepped forward to address the hovering team members. "Ye can see him, but he'll sleep a while. All things considered, he was lucky. Basically, he was pummeled ~ minor concussion, sprained wrist, two cracked ribs, twisted knee and bruising all over his body. His fingers are swollen and the pads torn, so his hands are wrapped."

"What are those marks on his body?" Teyla asked.

"They're evidently from the suction cups on the tentacles. By their size, the creature must be giant. The wounds are superficial, nothing more serious than, well, a very serious 'love bite'."

McKay's ears perked up.

SGA ~ SGA ~ SGA

John woke to the beep of a monitor, the tapping of Rodney's keyboard, a gentle humming from Teyla, and Ronon's grumbling at McKay for making noise. "Hey, guys," John said quietly.

"Hey, sleepyhead." McKay loomed over the bed and was yanked back by Ronon.

John tried to shift into a more comfortable position and was shocked into full wakefulness by various aches and pains.

"Colonel, you must be careful. It will take time." Teyla held a cup of water and straw for him while McKay gleefully recounted the full list of John's many and varied injuries.

"I guess this means no ZPM..." John sighed.

"Well," Rodney explained, "we didn't determine what the energy source was and since we couldn't even pinpoint its location, it's been deemed too risky to make another attempt to retrieve it. There's no further information in the Database and there's nothing else on that rock."

"There most definitely _is_ something else on that rock."

"Ah, yes, the hostile alien entity. Your girlfriend. Seriously, Colonel Kirk, can't you stick with your own species?"

"What're you talkin' about?"

McKay rocked back on his heels and smirked. "You're covered in hickeys, flyboy. Giant hickeys." *~*

Author's Note: I penned this story as an exercise in writing, in the hopes of waking my comatose muse. It was written in response to a challenge. During a conversation between sheppardlover928 and myself regarding the possibility of collaboration, I remarked that my bare-bones style and opposite focus (I can whump the entire team in one paragraph) would probably eliminate 90% of what she wrote. Therein lay the challenge - take one of her stories and see if I could cut it to only 10% of the original length. And I failed. The original story by sheppardlover928 contains 5068 words. My rewritten version has 1914 words; I only reduced it to 38% of its original length.

I emphasize adventure and humor in my stories, so this is the whump-lite version (even the author laughed that I removed the 'biting off the tip' part!) of 'Tentacley Challenged' (a most unusual and certainly unique whump tale - go check it out!). [I have been told, on occasion, that my writing lacks depth and feeling. The challenge to Sheppardlover928 will be to add emotion and more complex plot threads to one of my tales, thereby expanding it to 265% of the original length!]

I thought about reframing the time for S1, but Ronon seemed a better fit than Ford. I regret that in the series, once they were in touch with Earth, the Expedition members lost the drive and urgency to find ZPMs. So, this story takes place in early S2, when ZPMs are still a priority and before Teyla calls Sheppard "John". Let's say it takes place before Trinity. In the timeline of my stories this occurs between 'Stray Thoughts' and 'No Return'.

Thanks to sheppardlover928 for the source material.

Thanks for reading.


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